'Wonderful' St James' Park switch explained as Newcastle United provide 'significant injection' of cash

The Magpies were originally due to face Wimbledon at Plough Lane in third round of the Carabao Cup last week but the tie had to be postponed due to flooding that caused significant damage to the pitch.

Following discussions between the two clubs, and the EFL, the fixture was switched to St James’ Park, and the Premier League club ran out 1-0 winners on Tuesday night courtesy of Fabian Schar’s first-half penalty.

Around 51,000 supporters were in attendance at St James’ Park with The Dons set to receive 45% of the gate receipts on top of the £15,000 the Magpies donated to fundraiser to help with repair costs.

NewcastleWorld had the pleasure of catching up with Woodroof in the press room prior to the game, and here’s what he said in full:

How has the last week been?

“It was an extraordinary set of circumstances that led to the images that you've seen.

“Essentially we had record levels of rain water, the River Wandle reached its highest level for 60-odd years and multiple things happened. Our stadium's drainage system couldn't cope with that amount of water and there was nowhere for the water to escape.

“Ultimately that led to an eruption on our pitch because our water tank is beneath the pitch which is slightly unusual.

“A bizarre set of circumstances, unprecedented, a freak incident and we are working through that the best we can. We're really hopeful we can return to football a week on Saturday for our League Two game.

“It's been a mad week. Thankfully Newcastle were outstanding when we broke the news to them on Monday morning and quickly offered to reverse the fixture which was a fantastic gesture and offer. They've been first class ever since, making a significant donation to the club and hundreds of Newcastle supporters have thrown their arm around us.

“Newcastle to a person have been outstanding with us and I can't thank them enough. We have 1,500 fans here tonight and I think there's now a special bond between the clubs. I'm really hopeful that bond can continue for years to come.”

How costly and damaging would it have been if you had to forfeit?

“It would have had a significant impact on us. Because we're fan owned, our ultimate ambition is to break even, there isn't someone writing a cheque that can sustain losses of millions of pounds, which is what's happening in League Two.

“This would have had a monumental impact on us. We're very hopeful we can repair the pitch and get football back but the really sad thing is we were looking forward to hosting Newcastle and had sold every seat and after knocking Ipswich out, we were really looking forward to that.

“Unfortunately that was taken away from us but one good thing that has come out of it is tonight. But it's a bittersweet moment really.”

Can you talk us through the process of moving the game to St James' Park?

"It must have been between 9am and 10am on that Monday morning. I think Eddie was going to a press conference and obviously he needed quite a big update and it was a bit of a friendly 'there's no way this game is happening on our pitch'.

“We quickly contacted the EFL and I'm not sure on the exact flow but very quickly, as I was literally buying wellies over the road, we got asked if we'd be interested in reversing the fixture to St James' Park and I think that was a very quick conversation with our football department - Johnnie Jackson our manager and Craig Cope our director of football - and we said 'yes, we'd love to take you up on your offer'.

“By lunchtime Monday, that was sort of done and dusted. It's been a frenetic few days, Johnnie has had to prepare the team for two matches essentially. Thursday we called off our Saturday game so it was a juggling act but as I said, the EFL and Newcastle have been first call throughout the process and have really understood the gravity of the situation.

“The fact we've got a packed house here tonight, it will be a wonderful occasion. We're really proud to be here.”

Wimbledon are due 45% of the gate receipts - how will that benefit your football club?

"I haven't done the maths on it but it will be a significant injection.

“The reality is we're going to face increased costs because of the situation we've had, there is a significant insurance excess and there is inevitably going to be some business change that we need to cover.

“We're expecting an increase in insurance premium next year for these reasons so I think tonight's occasion will have a really positive impact on our financial situation but we are facing relatively uncertain times on the costs ahead so it is welcomed that we are here tonight."

‘Thank you’ message from Wimbledon fans - beautiful side of football on show after a difficult situation?

“Yeah, it has been absolutely magic. We've been inundated with people sending us well wishes, making financial contributions and offers of support, hundreds of volunteers but I think something like 3,000 supporters gave cash to the club which is just remarkable and hundreds of clubs represented but Newcastle fans really came out in force which is why that (Thank you everyone) flag has been created by Lee and his team who do all of our flags around the stadium.

“Everyone at Wimbledon wants to thank everyone associated with Newcastle United because of the warm welcome we've had (at St James' Park) but also the gestures over the last week or so.”

What is the pitch like at the moment with October 12 v Carlisle the aim?

“We're coming to the end of our assessment phase. We've essentially dug up the pitch, that corner of the pitch which is about a 10 metre squared patch that we've excavated and we've inspected the tank underneath.

“In the coming days, we're ascertaining our roadmap our roadmap out of it. It's too early to say what that process looks like at the moment unfortunately but we are currently really hopeful that we'll be back playing a week on Saturday.”

Precautions taken to avoid it happening in the future?

“It's something we're wrestling with every day. Our first priority is getting ourselves back because we can't have not playing football - that would be a disaster so we desperately need to fix the situation. Then it's about how do we make our stadium more resilient.

“We'll be working with the local authorities that are involved and all of our various consultants to try and formulate a plan to de-risk our stadium and de-risk this incident happening again in the future. But we all know that winters are getting wetter and this type of occurrence is becoming more frequent.

“We can't bury our heads in the sand, we need to formulate a proper plan to mitigate our risk as much as possible. Ultimately we're on a floodplain but I'm hopefully we'll have a much more resilient club off the back of this incident.”

You talk about the special bond between the two clubs - do we put a friendly date in July?

“It’s a great question, and one to put to Eddie. We’d absolutely love that. There is an open invitation to Newcastle United to come for a pre-season friendly with us, whatever that might look like. We would love to continue this relationship. We'd love to host Newcastle United in years to come.”